Ireland: A tourist destination that can stop traffic
Traffic-free spots like Venice can provide huge benefits for visitors and locals alike — could Ireland soon take a page from the Italians’ book?
When we think of places like Dubrovnik’s Old Town, New York’s Fire Island and even the Italian haven of Venice, there are plenty of things that come to mind; stunning coastlines, world-class food and drink and balmy summer evenings spent taking it all in, to name just a few.
There’s also something noticeably absent when we think of all these dreamy destinations, however. If you’ve ever been lucky enough to visit them, you’ll probably still remember the blissful feel of sun on your skin, the tranquil sound of waves lapping at your feet and the ever-permeable scent of Factor 50. What you won’t remember, though, is the background noise of engines revving, of horns beeping, or a cacophony of colourful language being shouted from car windows as road rage meets rush hour.
What’s missing is cars — only, in tourists spots like these, they aren’t really missed at all!
Increasingly across the world, but particularly throughout Europe, this phenomenon of traffic-free cities is catching on. Look anywhere — from Belgium’s Ghent, to Switzerland’s Zermatt or in the Old Town area of Gdansk in Poland — and you’ll soon see why the trend is fast-evolving.
From improved air quality to greater investment in public transport and cycling infrastructure, the benefits of going traffic-free are hard to ignore — and here in Ireland, those same perks are becoming increasingly sought after.
While Ireland is still a long way from fully embracing the traffic-free city just yet, we are inching ever closer towards it. Since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic back in 2020, main streets across the country have been opting to shun the cars and become pedestrianised, creating greater space for outdoor dining, social distancing and general ease of movement. The changes have proven popular, with plenty of local authorities choosing to keep their busiest tourist and trading spots closed to traffic even today, despite the vast majority of social distancing regulations now being fully lifted.
One such example is Capel Street, which became the longest traffic-free street in the capital after Dublin City Council signed off on the measure last May. The move has been widely welcomed by tourists, residents and local businesses alike in Dublin, having come about as a result of extensive public consultation which saw 91 per cent of submissions in favour of making the street traffic-free. Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy says the move has been “nothing short of transformative” and has “provided better liveable spaces, air quality and safety for us all”. While Dublin has never struggled to draw in visitors from all corners of the globe anyhow, these improvements certainly haven’t gone unnoticed in the international market, as Capel Street was recently named one of the coolest streets in the world in a survey by global travel magazine Time Out.
And if it’s the cool factor that tourists are after, particularly from an Irish staycation, they’d be hard pressed to find anywhere better for it than Cork, the so-called ‘real capital’! It was Cork, after all, who introduced Ireland’s first ever pedestrians-only street all the way back in 1971.
Princes Street remains traffic-free to this day, and stands as a proud example of all that a location can gain by losing cars. Alongside the everyday throngs of shoppers, buskers make great use of the space these days, regularly filling Princes Street with great tunes and even greater craic, which is a real treat for anyone who manages to get an outdoor table for one of the stellar pubs and restaurants that line the street.
Similarly, Galway’s pedestrianised Quay Street is regarded as one of the county’s (if not the country’s!) best nightlife spots, with both music and good-natured revellers often spilling out on to the street from the area’s iconic pubs and eateries, including the Dáil Bar and, of course, the legendary Quays Bar and Restaurant.
These are just some small snapshots of the huge vibrancy that can be created in Ireland’s main holiday and staycation spots once space is made for all the things that attract visitors to them in the first place – such as dancing, drinking, eating, strolling, street art and performers – rather than space for more traffic and more cars.
Despite all the positive progress in recent years, however, there’s still a long way to go. If Rome wasn’t built in a day, then Ireland’s answer to pedestrianised Italian cities like Venice won’t be a 24-hour job either!
It’s not a matter of simply banning cars from city centres — it’s about finding alternatives for their drivers, who don’t want to be stuck in traffic and turning beauty spots into congested bottlenecks any more than urban planners want them to be!
Cork’s official City Development Plan for the next five years outlines aspirations to transform the area into a “15 minute city", with zoning for new housing alongside an emphasis on public transport and job creation hoped to reduce car dependency, and instead create pockets of the city where people’s jobs, schools and essential amenities are all within walkable distance. As more and more of Ireland’s tourism gems like Cork adopt such plans, could we soon be staycationing in the country’s first traffic-free city sooner than we think?
Like the Venetians, we should perhaps get our gondolas lined up just in case — we’ll make good use of them in the rainy Irish winter in any case!
